MEMPHIS, Tenn. – Shelby County educators were the students Saturday as they received special training on how to improve illiteracy in their classrooms.
It’s the first time the district has ever held a system-wide training event that’s designed to specifically tackle illiteracy.
Taught by their peers, 5000 Shelby County educators crowded into classrooms across the district; hoping to tackle illiteracy; a major concern for SCS, its students and parents.
“A district our size, we have very few opportunities to get the same message to everyone, making sure we`re all clear working on the same goal,” said Dr. Heidi Ramirez, an administrator for SCS.
Ramirez says Saturday`s district learning day is important because it will help the district keep track of what every student is learning is they grow from grade to grade.
Teachers were supposed to have these sessions last month, but nasty weather kept everyone home.
The hope is teachers will go back to their classrooms and start using what they learned immediately.
“We`ll get more feedback at the central office to see what we can do to better support teachers and make those revisions,” said Ramirez.
Ramirez says literacy is much more than using words on a page.
Just because a student can sound out words, doesn`t mean they understand them.
That`s a concept Snowden kindergarten teacher Valessa Swindall knows well.
“When we get kindergarteners, they may come in at all different levels. We have to figure what level they are at,” said Swindall.
Swindall’s happy the district is taking time to show teachers how to better engage with all their students when it comes to reading, writing, listening, speaking and comprehension.
The district says tackling illiteracy now, will put SCS on track to achieve its goal that every child will be college-ready by 2025.
SCS will hold another session next Saturday for the educators who couldn’t make it Saturday.
